Category: Devotional Thoughts

Holy Week Reflections: Love is Not a Feeling

I did not enjoy the sound of my alarm at 4:00 am Wednesday morning. A couple of other factors made waking up even harder. I caught a cold a few days before and had sinus congestion. I somehow sprained my neck at the gym and it was still sore.

I did get up, despite not feeling I was at 100% strength. Why? Love is the reason.

No, I didn’t have an early morning breakfast date with a beautiful woman. I did give my word that I would meet a friend and leave with him at 5:00 am. I had a seminar scheduled for a group of about 70 students from One Body in Christ Ministries (a church in Manila). I rode with them to the Subic Bay area in Bataan. Love for God and love for those students compelled me to keep my word.

My physical discomfort was not really such a big deal. The experience, however, did remind me of an important truth: love is not just a feeling.

When we talk or sing about love, we usually start telling people how we feel (or how that “special someone” makes us feel). Some even do immoral things (like pre-marital sex or having an extra-marital affair) and say “I was in love, I couldn’t help myself.”

Of course love affects our emotions, but true love is much more than just the way we feel. In fact, true love will cause us to do things we don’t feel like doing. True love will cause us to do the right thing, even when it is not easy (1st Corinthians 13:6)

We are now in a season (holy week) in which we ponder the suffering of Jesus. Consider His prayer the nigh before He was crucified:

 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
–Luke 22:42

Why would Jesus pray for the “cup of suffering” to be removed? He was a sane human being. Just like the rest of us, He had a natural desire for comfort and self-preservation. No sane, healthy person wants his/her life to end—especially not by crucifixion.

Despite His normal desire to live, Jesus willingly surrendered Himself to death on a cross. Why? He did this because of His love for us. We can develop a more mature understanding of love by remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

This is one of the many articles that you’ll find in my book: Basta Lovelife: Making Wise Relationship Decisions.

Isaiah 5: What More Could God Do For You?

Now I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a rich and fertile hill.
He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
but the grapes that grew were bitter.
Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,
you judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I have not already done?
When I expected sweet grapes,
why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
–Isaiah 5:1-4 (italics added)

There’s been a major construction project going on outside my apartment since I moved here. Weeks were spent digging and pouring concrete for a foundation. Slowly but surely, a large building has emerged. I could not imagine all of the costs that go into such a project. One thing I do know—a great investment was made because they are expecting great returns. Imagine the investors’ disappointment if no one wanted to rent or buy these condominiums!

Isaiah describes something similar. The vineyard was used as an analogy to describe the costly investment God had made: premium land, removal of the stones, the best vines, a watchtower, and a wine press. These were perfect conditions for delicious fruit, yet the vineyard produced “bitter grapes.”

The vineyard, of course, represents God’s people. He had done so much for them—delivered them from Egyptian slavery, defeated their enemies, and gave them a land “flowing with milk and honey.” Despite all that God had done, His people forgot Him and no longer served him (“bitter grapes”).

God’s question was simple: what more could I have done for you? I believe this question is relevant for us here and now. Have you considered what God has done for you? Think of all the resources that God has made available to you (a printed Bible in a language you can understand, churches, pastors, Christian books, Bible study materials, online devotionals, etc). We have resources that previous generations could only dream of! We have no excuse to be spiritually stagnant or unfruitful.

It is true that God loves His children, however imperfect we are. The Bible clearly teaches, however, that God is disappointed with us if we are not fruitful. God is disappointed with you if you are not growing spiritually and are not using your talents/gifts to serve Him. What else can He do for you? It is time for you to take responsibility and make good use of what He has already given you.